Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Aircell, an Itasca-based technology company
that outfits airplanes with in-flight Wi-Fi, is launching a multimedia service
that gives fliers access to real-time news, shopping, travel information and
social networking.

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Aircell also changed its company name to Gogo

Aircell also changed its company name to
Gogo, the brand name for its Wi-Fi service on commercial airlines, and created
a new logo. The company will continue to provide business aviation services
under the Aircell brand name.

At a Thursday press event at its
headquarters, Gogo executives showed a mock-up of a website that will be the
portal for its new services. Fliers access the site on their individual
devices, such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet. Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief
marketing officer, said each airline can customize the site to incorporate its
own branding and content. Consumers can shop online at luxury flash sale site
Gilt, book restaurant reservations in their destination city through OpenTable
or browse People magazine.

Fliers who want to browse the Internet freely
have to pay for in-flight Wi-Fi. The website will roll out in the fourth
quarter with Delta and executives said Thursday they hope all of the company’s
airline partners will offer the platform by early next year.

Gogo also demonstrated its in-flight video
streaming service, which is in a beta testing phase and will launch in the fall
with American Airlines. The service allows consumers to rent videos, such as
feature films and TV shows, and watch them on their own mobile devices. Rentals
are good for 24 hours, so if a flight lands before a movie is over, the person
can continue watching the video later on the same gadget.

Executives said they are experimenting with
different pricing for the streaming video service. On the demonstration, the
rental price for a feature film such as “The Bourne Ultimatum” was $3.99.